"Vultures...spread your wings and heed my call" and so begins the token cheesy narrative intro track on BEAST OF THUNDER the debut eleven song CD from the five-piece power metal band Lord Volture hailing from the Netherlands.

Thunder cracks as "The Coming Of The Storm" picks up the pace with it's tight thrashy rhythms and melodic guitar leads. Vocalist David Marcelis has a very unique voice and a strong foreign accent, but makes up for that with his excellent ear for vocal phrasing and delivery. The music of Lord Volture has a classic European traditional metal feel, and sounds like it could have easily been released on Noise Records circa 1987 sandwiched between releases from Helloween, Gamma Ray and Running Wild. The title track "Beast Of Thunder" finds David reaching for the higher register to varying degrees of success. There is some tight breaks and flashy riff-work throughout the title track and the tandem of lead guitarists Paul Marcelis and Leon Hermans work excellent together in crafting some aggressive yet melodic framework. "Time Will Tell" slows the tempo down in favor of a pulsing hard rocker approach where as "BloodBound" displays a very strong Judas Priest "Painkiller" era influence. There are some scorching hammer-on pull-offs in the opening riffs of the pulverizing "Reign Of Fire" which is probably the heaviest song of the album's eleven tracks.

Lord Volture have crafted a killer debut album with BEAST OF THUNDER. I appreciate the variety of tempo on this record and the devotion to playing this kind of metal the way it deserves to be performed with such reverence and purity, unhampered by any modern influence and constructed with such attention to detail. The production is great and the packaging is superior for a self released product, housed in a gatefold digipack with a deluxe sixteen page booklet. I would recommend this album to fans of European eighties heavy metal without hesitation.

Track Listing

1. The Coming Of The Storm
2. Beast Of Thunder
3. Heart Of Steel
4. Time Will Tell
5. Built For The Kill
6. Bloodbound
7. The Motherland
8. Retaliation
9. Reign Of Fire
10. Outlaw
11. Pure Evil Hides In The Dark